Pages

15 January 2013

Well, hello there! I thought it was high time I let you in on what's going on around here.

I've been sparse here, not by desire.

Truth is, the Dills are moving, which is a very BIG dill! ;) Not too far, but still. Every single thing has to be packed whether it's across the world or around the corner. I didn't think we had that much stuff, but I described it to my mom like our house had vomited. The more we packed the more there seemed to be. But, we finally did it.

The thing is, we're in a temporary, undisclosed location (aka bunkin' with gammy ;) until renovations are done on the new place.

The kids have started their new schools, which has been a huge, difficult adjustment for some, and a sea breeze for others. Olive came home from her first day and said she talked to every single person in her class. Ryan and I just looked at each other and smiled. That kid can ride any wave with grace and natural skill.

I've walked our big middle schooler into her school every single day, until today. I told her one day she wouldn't want her mom walking into school with her. She looked skeptical.

I've been spending every solitary (rare!) hour at the old house painting, painting, painting. Isn't it funny how you're able to look past the dirt, grime, and wall smudges until you realize there can't be any proof of you living there?

And it would be a whole lot easier if I had painted everything the same shade of white. No, that would be too simple. Every single room is a different shade, so it's not just touching up. It's a 3 coat painting job.

I told Ryan that maybe it's a tender mercy that I will be so sick of the house by the time I'm finished painting that there will be no sadness about leaving a home we have grown to love, but just outgrown.

My green countertops, the stockings hung by the fireplace tiles, the light fixtures, the garden we have lovingly tended, the floors on which half our kids have learned to walk, the countless meals prepared in the kitchen, the birthdays celebrated in the blue dining room, the treehouse, the teacher appreciation dinners, the Christmas trees decorated in the living room. So many memories in our little house.

I am torn. But, as I was explaining to one baby dill who was struggling with the change, change is good for us. Sometimes it's hard and it hurts and it seems that it will always be uncomfortable, but we don't grow and learn like we should without it. We gain compassion, we discover more strengths and weaknesses about ourselves through change.

Changes to schools also means changes to my sewing schedule. Clover's new school is not only doing letters of the week out of order, but she has to wear the school t-shirt and solid color pants. That is one giant wrench thrown in my alphabet week sewing!

Ryan asked if we needed to switch schools. He's a good man. But she's staying where she is, and I will just have to work something else out. Thoughts? Maybe I should rotate through all the girls to more evenly distribute my sewing projects.

Most of my fabric is boxed up anyway, but it's like I'm missing a body part, not being able to sew freely.

The projected date for finishing everything in the house is March 2nd. There. It's in print, so it has to happen, right?

It has been an absolute delight to choose things for the house. It was built in the 50's and has so many layers of additions and changes. In fact, it has 2 roofs! I love talking to the contractor about how things were built.

He took down some drywall to see what we were dealing with in one room and said, pointing to some really big boards (I don't even remember what he called them) but he was as excited about them as I would get about elbow darts. Those are like old OLD school!

We've discovered layers of flooring that is proof of the floor fads through the decades.

I'm having a hard time convincing everyone of my vision as far as changes go.

Even the contractor. He's asked me half a dozen times if I'm sure about my flooring choice for the entrance.

YES! YES! YES! So. What does this all mean for the short term blog outlook? You can follow along our renovation journey, and I'm going to try to unearth some fabric to sneak in some sewing as well (gammy does have her Bernina for my usage, and I brought my drawers 'o buttons with me like it's my 7th child.)

Oh. Did you want to see the state of the new house? Why, yes, those are trenches dug in my floor with mounds of dirt on my kitchen floor. That's Divine in the corner. It's progress, which is beautiful to me!

ps I can't seem to stay away from instagram, so you're welcome to follow our day-by-day journey (all the above photos) there (@nobigdillkaty)

pps if any of you have tips to survive and thrive through renovations, please share!

43 comments:

my one piece of advice about surviving and thriving through renovations is learn to embrace 'hygienic' over 'clean and tidy' lol. We're so very almost done renovations in our house after 5 years of living in it... and we've outgrown it. So we'll likely be moving later this year as well, and I am SO not looking forwards to it! So much packing... even just packing my craft room sounds dreadful. ;)

I can't believe you guys moved!! I can't wait to see the new house finished!! I loved what you told one of the girls about change...it is something I needed to hear right now! Moving to this tiny freezing cold small oregon town has been tough for me, and I really needed to read that today! Thanks!

I follow you on Instagram and had wondered about the boxed thread photo. Congratulations on the new place. I so love a home with layers of history! I think it's funny that you said you outgrew your old place just as I was going to ask you how you organized your space to accommodate all the little dills. I'd still love to know as we have our own set of 7 even though one is married, gone and has a babe of her own.

We did some serious renovations on an old home of ours, built in 1850 and the renovations exposed dirt and dust that was 150 years old. My husband has firmly stated he will never tackle a project like that again on a house we live in. I must agree. Stay away until the majority of the dust settles if you can.

I have no advice. But your contractor's excitement about boards made me laugh. Our last house was built in 1901. When we had it inspected prior to moving in, the inspector was the same way. He kept jumping in our kitchen because the floor was so... Sturdy, or something. Then he dragged me outside to admire the outside faucets location. I love people who love their job. Good luck with the changes!

We're right there with you! On my maternity leave with my 2nd, we bought an 1880s farm in Maine. And I HATE going to paint at our other home when I want to fix up the new to us home! Here's our 'new' home:

Oh boy! It is a huge job isn't it. We just moved 6 months ago. Really, it's been 6 months already?I felt the same as you... overwhelmed with having to pack every.single.thing. in a box, bag or out the door. Every. single. waking. moment was spent packing packing packing. I looked forward to cooking just so I could do something different. And have some people around.My son had some difficulty changing schools, but now it seems like he's in a groove. Or maybe he's just not complaining as much. When he has a good day or a good play date, we remind him how far he's come since he moved here. He acknowledges that and feels proud of it.Best to you and all of your new transitions from so many littles and lives to keep up with.Blessings

Best of luck! We built a house last year and what was supposed to be a two month stay with my parents turned into a six month stay. My parents were wonderful, but it was just a lot of people in one house. It tested all of us, and my patience especially, but we did it! And we were oh so happy to get into our new home. My biggest piece of advice is to just keep reminding yourself it is temporary, and one day at a time. I also kept visualizing my husband and I sitting on our back patio one day, enjoying our new view and our new backyard. Replaying that picture over and over in my head was helpful, too. :)

Oh, good luck! We keep saying we're going to build, but it still hasn't happened and I'm not too sad about it. We built a house a few years ago but never moved in. It was a really difficult year since my hubs did so much of the work. Hopefully not too much longer for you! An end in sight is great!

We just went through a major home renovation this summer - with four kids, including one six mom old baby. ours was a nightmare, i hope yours goes better than ours did! Here are a few things I learned along the way:1. Don't be surprised if they find things wrong or unexpected. We found dry rot in two of our bathrooms and gas leaks in our attic. That meant more money, more work and more time.

2. Don't be surprised if it takes longer than you expect (see #1) :)

3. Be thankful you are staying with grandparents. We lived in an apartment for one month- in the middle of the summer in Texas.

4. If they do anything that may result in dust going everywhere - (taking up tile, cutting granite, etc) make sure they take proper precautions. After we were moved back in, they had to make a tiny cut in the granite to fit in the stovetop and dust exploded everywhere because they didn't drape/vacuum/ventilate properly. We had to move into a hotel --- with two kids and myself having the stomach flu. Micromanage anything that could create dust - this has happened to some of our friends as well.

Good luck. I would never want to tackle a home reno again - it ended up being 3xs more expensive than we planned and created so much stress/hassle for our family. The only way I would consider it is if I was living somewhere else until it was 100% done. I hope yours goes more smoothly than ours.

At least we walked away with some good stories. My husband says disaster + time = comedy.

I always love reading your posts. We moved in August and my kindergartner seemed to handle it all in stride...making new friends, excelling at her new school, enjoying extracurricular activities...until just last night she broke down on tears, saying she missed "her crabs" (our old house was on the coast and the backyard was home to fiddler crabs). This was her time to mourn the loss of a home full of memories. I know I had my my moment and now that I am past the fog I am better able to enjoy the present. Good luck with the renovation.

How exciting!! Congrats on the new house! :) I'm still missing my fabric that was exiled to the crawl space when we put our house on the market. Hope things go smoothly for you (as smoothly as they can). And maybe you can continue alphabet sewing but rotate through all of your kiddos?

We miss you Dills. Sorry about the middle school-er, you are such a good mama. As far as the renovations, Stay strong :) So excited for you guys and this adventure. And we will have to meet you at the beach this summer

Sew as much as possible, regardless. Clip nails & comb hair (aka remedy to chaos, right?). Admire the light in your kitchen (beautiful!). And cut yourself some slack (it's not like we are going anywhere till March). Best of luck & a quick renovation :-)

The treehouse! Oh, my, the treehouse. I think above all I couldn't leave that treehouse behind. But goodness knows you need space, and I think renovations are delightful (and horrible). So congratulations!

Congrats on moving! My husband and I are buying an older house as well--ours was built in '45. I'm really excited to get working on it. I hope painting the old house goes quickly so you can focus your efforts on the baby dills and the new house!

That's so exciting! We're up to the painting stage in our renovation and are loving our new space. We lived in 4 rooms including a bathroom with no kitchen for 7 months!! (say what?!) True there was only two of us but I'm a teacher with 'teaching stuff'.

My biggest tip, keep reminding yourselves of the bigger picture. THere will be an end, it will look great! And secondly if you've chosen a fitting/ item/ colour/ furniture that causes comments/ raises eyebrows etc stick with it! If you can visualise it, it will work and later on it sure is a positive conversation starter! :)

Congrats on the move and the renovations! What an exciting time. We are about 60% done with an 85-year-old home ourselves, so I can sympathize. If ever you need to see some finished rooms, rather than partly finished ones you are surrounded by, stop on by at assortedjoys.wordpress.com.

I'll miss your sewing posts (as I have already!) but to tell the truth, my sewing room is still part of the unfinished 40% of the house so I am also glad that my list of "Sew Important Items to Make" (yes, I keep a list titled as such...) isn't getting too long and overwhelming!

Eventhough I am a IG addict too... meaning addict to your photos... I had no idea... what a change! I can't imagine what it is like to move such a big family after so many years... As for renovations, I don't have much to say, we finally finished renovating our 1880's house and I've been living with tools, cables and dust everywhere for the past ten years... I actually even miss those, now... and my honey misses renovating so bad we just bought a new house which has ti be totally 're-build'... quite a challenge ;-)anyway, I hope it will all go as you wish and I am certain the girls will get used to their new environnement and quickly make new friends. I am certain also that your new place will be at last as pretty as the old one ;-)

Margot-I was doing a weekly sew along with her previous school, making a themed outfit that had to do with the letter of the week. We had gotten to L when we moved. She can't wear what I make to her new school, plus they're going out of order with the alphabet, so I can't follow along anyway.

I really want to know about the wood your contractor found. I love old construction surprises lurking behind layers of finishes.

We are building a new house, and while the whole process of selling and packing and moving and possible transitional housing is wearing me out, I'm so excited to see the finished product. However, I do not have your design abilities so I selfishly find myself wishing you were further ahead of us so I could borrow some ideas from what will surely be your stunning new home!

I totally feel your pain! We had to move out of our old house a little over a year ago because we outgrew it. It was difficult especially because we didn't have anything to move into (we were in an apartment for 13 months). Anyway, we are in our new-to-us house and are loving the space and painting and making it our own. You will love it and by the looks of your previous home, the new one will be beautiful! :)

Oh my. This is big, big news! It's so hard to be a kid isn't it? It's funny how change can be so exciting for grown-ups and so scary for kids. Not having agency sucks. But, they will get there and it will be so fantastic. I'll bet one day you will realize that everyone is settled in and it will feel great to know your kids sorted out how to adapt. (I'm so excited for you! New spaces to decorate! And design! Wahoo!)

SOOOOO exciting! We too are getting ready for a big move next month. And My oldest is nervous as well. I hope your's feels better about the move soon. I'm excited to follow your move on here as well as Instagram to see all your wonderful ideas! Good Luck :)

A new house is so exciting, even with renovations to do! Congratulations! We move in 3 weeks, so our house is a maze of boxes. All my fabric got packed up last night and I already miss it. Can't wait to see what you do to the new place to make it yours.

Katy + dills - We are doing the same thing! We have been renting a cramped townhome since September. Our move date is finally NEXT weekend! So I'm packing up again! We did most of the work ourselves so it took a bit longer. It's so fun to pick out the finishes tho!Tarabirdy boots

WOW! I read this and had to laugh. We moved in November and for the first time I'm catching up on things like reading blogs! I still have all my fabric packed away but have plans to get it out this week!I can totally feel for you. We have tons of renovations to do but of course, it all takes time. I would love to hear what work you contract out, how that went and what you do yourself. I can't wait to see your new craft room and the other fun things you do... Thanks for sharing your talent!